Dubai Desert Classic report and scores: 11/1 tip Bryson DeChambeau claims title

Leaderboard

-24 DeChambeau

-17 Wallace

-16 Waring, Poulter, Garcia, Quiros

Final round report

Ben Coley's 11/1 pre-tournament selection Bryson DeChambeau claimed a remarkable fourth win in his last nine events with a commanding victory in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

DeChambeau carded a closing 64 at Emirates Golf Club to set a new tournament record of 24-under-par and finish seven shots clear of England's Matt Wallace.

Wallace birdied the 18th to shoot 68 and claim outright second, a shot ahead of Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Alvaro Quiros and Paul Waring.

Defending champion Li Haotong had been part of that group sharing third, but was penalised two shots after his caddie stood behind him when taking his stance on the 18th green - an infraction of one of the new golf rules for 2019.

Beginning the day with a one-shot lead, DeChambeau made the ideal start with a hat-trick of birdies and put the result beyond doubt with an eagle from just six feet on the 10th and another birdie at the next.

The 25-year-old briefly gave the chasing pack a glimmer of hope with a bogey on the 12th following an errant drive, but birdied the 13th, 14th and 17th to seal an emphatic triumph.

"It's incredible to get my first win overseas on the European Tour," said DeChambeau, who will remain fifth in the world despite the victory.

"Today was a pleasure. It was obviously a lot of fun to be able to finally hoist an international trophy, I'm so happy about that.

"I was trying to shoot 25 under today and missed it by one, but I'm happy with the results for sure.

"I was trying to go as deep as possible today."

Wallace, who will climb into the world's top 40 after holing a six-foot putt at the final hole to secure solo second, hailed the performance of the winner.

"I wanted to give it a go today," said Wallace. "I really wanted to put some pressure on Bryson. He was obviously scoring well. Credit to him, he's played great today from what I hear and he's a worthy champion this week and it's great to have him here. But I'll try and get him next time."

Round three report

American Bryson DeChambeau - tipped as a 4pt win selection at 11/1 by our Ben Coley - holds a one-shot lead ahead of the final round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

The world number five, who began the day's play at Emirates Golf Club as joint leader, rolled in two birdies in the final four holes to card a four-under-par 68.

He is now one shot clear of defending champion, China's Li Haotong, with England's Matt Wallace and four-time major winner Ernie Els three shots off the pace in a tie for third.

DeChambeau, who has never won outside of America, carded successive bogeys at the seventh and eighth holes, only to strike back with consecutive birdies.

He then sank a 10-foot birdie putt at the 13th before additional birdies at the 15th and 17th saw him finish up on 16-under par.

"I can't express to you how awesome it would be to win on the European Tour," said the 25-year-old, who has six career victories.

"I'm still leading, obviously. It's fantastic. I couldn't be displeased with that but my expectation levels are for how I know I can perform, and I feel like I'm under-performing a little bit.

"I'm still in the lead, still got the job done. I made it happen when necessary and hopefully I can have one more of those days and maybe even a better-ball striking day."

Wallace began his round with a bogey at the par-four second hole, but birdied the next, before making up three further shots on the back nine to card a 69.

"It is good to get the season started off, the juices flowing, and being in contention," he told Sky Sports. "Hopefully I will have a chance tomorrow."

Wallace will play alongside Els, the 49-year-old who is ranked a lowly 527th in the world, in the concluding round.

Els has not won since 2013, but at the scene of his first European Tour title victory 25 years ago remained in the hunt with a birdie at 18 to complete a bogey-free card of 70.

Elsewhere, English duo Jordan Smith and Matthew Fitzpatrick are five shots off the lead on 11 under par, while Tommy Fleetwood, Lee Westwood and Andrew Johnson are one further back.

Round two report

Bryson DeChambeau moved menacingly into position on day two of the Dubai Desert Classic to share the lead at the halfway stage on 12-under-par.

The American hadn't been happy with his driving in a bogey-free opening round and there were mistakes in a repeat 66 on Friday, which resulted in bogeys at the fourth, ninth and 12th holes.

However, six birdies plus an eagle at the par-five 10th were more than enough to overcome those stumbles as the world number five underlined his status as the pre-tournament favourite.

"I'm pleased. I'm pleased that I'm playing golf. I'm getting it in the hole and executing the right shots when I need to and making a lot of key putts.

"I thought after yesterday getting it around not making a bogey was awesome, but today, even more impressive with three bogeys on the card to still shoot six under. I just felt uncomfortable, unfortunately, and consequently just I am not ball-striking my best. But hey, I'm not complaining one bit."

Alongside DeChambeau sits Lucas Herbert, the young Australian who impressed so much throughout 2018 and has made an excellent start to the new year.

Herbert also made eagle at the 10th, his first, in a blemish-free round of 63, his only mistake in 36 holes so far having come at the first on Thursday morning.

"I knew I just had to take advantage of them straight out of the gate. I did that with an eagle-birdie-birdie start, and kind of just kept flowing. I was like seven under through about 11 holes, and it just felt like I was cruising. I probably left some out there to be honest."

On an eclectic leaderboard, Alvaro Quiros sits one off the pace in third following a round of 64 which ended with three birdies from the 16th to the last, with fellow former champion Ernie Els alongside him after a closing birdie.

Matt Fitzpatrick, who led after round one, looked set to post a testing clubhouse target with four birdies over his first 12 holes on Friday only to run up a double-bogey at the par-three seventh and end the day three off the pace.

Round one report

Matt Fitzpatrick birdied the final four holes at Emirates Golf Club to edge into a one-shot lead at the Dubai Desert Classic.

The five-time European Tour winner warmed up with a top-10 finish on the Asian Tour last week and showed the benefits of that by rattling home in 31 strokes to take over at the top of a jam-packed leaderboard.

"It was obviously a great finish to the round," said the Englishman.

"A couple things that sort of I've been doing in the off-season sort of looked to have paid off a little bit, so I just added a bit of extra length to my driver, so it's given me a few yards to help get on in two on the last because I've never been able to do that. And wedging it a lot better has given me a few more chances coming in.

"I was really disappointed with my season last year, second in Hong Kong kind of saved it a little bit at the end of the year there, but I knew a lot of things needed to change. I needed to work on different parts of my game, different shots, and really did feel like I put in a lot of work, to be honest.

"So far I've played five rounds this year and have played pretty well for all of them. Hopefully it continues, it's just nice to see it pay off."

Earlier in the day, Bryson DeChambeau and Sergio Garcia posted matching rounds of 66 to share the clubhouse lead, before Fitzpatrick moved past them deep into the evening.

Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee had looked set to end the day ahead when reaching eight-under with only the par-five 18th to play, but the 49-year-old dumped his third shot into the water and ran up a double-bogey.

Callum Shinkwin also threatened a lower score than his eventual 66, racing to six-under through 12 having only qualified for the event on Monday, but having started on the 10th tee he was level par over his final six holes.

DeChambeau was bogey-free on his return to the event in which he finished 18th as an amateur three years ago, with birdies at the 10th, 13th, 17th and 18th seeing him out in 33 before two more back-nine birdies.

Tommy Fleetwood had been on course to overshadow him when playing that back-nine in six-under following an eagle at the famous 18th, but he dropped two shots on the tougher front-nine in a frustrating 68.

Defending champion Hao-tong Li is alongside Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter in a big group on five-under while last week's runner-up Richard Sterne struggled to a six-over 78 to sit one off last.